China's fluctuating PR

China's fluctuating PR

A standoff in Copenhagen; the execution of Briton Akmal Shaikh; the sentencing of dissidents Liu Xiaobo and Zhao Shiying; Google; currencies ... it seems a sudden deluge of Western complaints against China have erased all memories of President Obama's early attempts to woo Beijing.

The perception of politicians, commentators and analysts, has become increasingly negative as a consequence.

Andrew Small at  the German Marshall Fund in Brussels summarises:

What has startled China’s interlocutors is the brashness with which Beijing now asserts its interests — and its willingness to prevail, even at the expense of appearing the villain.

Meanwhile, over at the Guardian,  Foreign Affairs Editor Peter Beaumont asks,  "Why is China so terrified of dissent?", and offers one conclusion

Dissidents in the country's intelligentsia might act not only as a lightning rod for a myriad of social concerns by challenging the legitimacy of the state's institutions, but that they might provide an organisation to rally behind.

Beaumont also points to an article by Ian Buruma, who raises the issue of Confucian ideals:

The insistence on orthodoxy is still sufficiently strong in China to remain the default defense against political critics.

All of which is relevant and important stuff, and we'll hear much more debate on China's actions, attitudes and policies in years to come. The question is, how will our foreign policy elites (and media) choose to frame this conversation?

There's a danger that Beijing is still being treated as a curiosity, that despite the lip service being paid to its rising position it must still prove itself as worthy before it's allowed to take a seat at the table of global (western) decision makers.

Says Small: 

Heads of government who would happily push China into the “important but not urgent” file have begun to review their strategies.

How long will those heads of government persist with the belief that China can simply be assigned a place in a file, according to their whim?